Richard Alf
Richard Alf | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 26, 1952 United States |
| Died | January 4, 2012 (aged 59) United States |
| Occupation | Comic Book Retailer |
| Education | San Diego State University |
| Alma mater | University of California, San Diego |
| Notable awards | Inkpot Award (1989)[1] |
| Parent | Martha Alf (mother) |
Richard Alf (January 26, 1952 – January 4, 2012) was an American businessman and former
Biography
Personal life
Alf was born to artist
San Diego Comic-Con
In 1970, Alf teamed with a group of other comic enthusiasts, including Shel Dorf, Mike Towry, and Ken Krueger, to establish the first Comic-Con annual convention, then known as the San Diego's Golden State Comic-Con.
Shel Dorf, who was 35 years old at the time, had conceived the idea for a comic convention, but lacked money and transportation to create the event. Alf, a then 17-year-old senior at Kearny High School, provided Dorf with both the money and transport, in the form of Alf's 1954 Volkswagen Beetle. Alf donated several thousand dollars to fund the convention for its first three years. He would be paid back after the convention.
The first convention, known San Diego's Golden State Comic-Con, which was held at the
The convention, now known as San Diego Comic-Con International, is now an internationally known, four-day annual event held at the San Diego Convention Center. From its small beginnings, Comic-Con now attracts more than 125,000 attendees, with contributions from major celebrities and film studios.
Alf largely gave up his unpaid, volunteer positions at Comic-Con later in the 1970s. During the mid-1970s, he opened his own
In 2009, Comic-Con honored Alf, Dorf, Krueger, Towry and other co-founders of the convention. In November 2009, Dorf died in San Diego and Krueger died in upstate New York in the same month.[5] Alf contributed to a special project by San Diego State University's library to document the early years and founders of Comic-Con with primary sources.
Alf was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2011 after collapsing at his home in
References
- ^ Inkpot Award
- ^ U-T San Diego. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
- ^ "Richard Alf Papers, 1960–2011". Richard Alf Papers, 1960–2011. San Diego State University Special Collections and University Archives. Retrieved August 29, 2015.
- ^ a b "Richard Alf, a Comic-Con founder, dies of cancer". CBS News. January 6, 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
- ^ "Comic-Con co-creator Ken Krueger dies". BBC News. November 25, 2009. Retrieved January 7, 2012.